James Blake Quotes

"I feel like I'm helping out Andy, because Andy has dealt with it on his own for a while now. I'm proud to be helping him. I'm proud that we're doing this together. We're both in the quarters now. He's playing great tennis again. I'm really happy to see that. He played unbelievable in Cincinnati. I thought he played great in Indianapolis.And I had to play possibly my best match ever to beat him in the finals. I'm happy to see him doing great. We're both playing pretty darn well going into Moscow. I'm looking forward to us teaming up together instead of playing against each other."-- James Blake on being in the Top 10 with Andy Roddick at the US Open, leading up to the Davis Cup semifinal at Russia.

"If you read it, you must have been one of the 10 books he sold."-- James Blake on Vince Spadea's tell-all book.

"The players strongly support the move away from best-of-five-set finals."-- James Blake, 0-9 in five-set matches, on the ATP's proposed changes for 2007.

"I hope guys don't go into it already beaten. That happened when Pete was around. Guys definitely in the locker room felt like, a match against Pete Sampras, it was time to book your flight for the next day."-- James Blake on the intimidation factor against players facing Roger Federer.

"What does that say about men's tennis these days? They're two pretty cute girls. I don't blame him."-- James Blake on his brother Thomas watching the Maria Sharapova-Maria Kirilenko match rather than his.

"I never faced Pete (Sampras) in a match. I think from watching, his is the best serve ever. And he is the only guy that I would probably not take the bet that he would so often offer in practice -- he's down love-40, says "10 bucks, I still hold serve." I probably wouldn't even take that against him. So many times he would come back and win. He would just put it on the dime. I also wouldn't take the bets when we were just practicing our serves, he put just a tennis ball can on the other side, and says, "A hundred bucks for who hits more." That's not a safe bet with him."-- James Blake on the serve of Pete Sampras.

"Two matches on clay, I got about zero rhythm, which is pretty frustrating. Playing two huge servers. You know, one's a serve and volleyer, the other one just goes for winners as early as he can. So that took me out of my game and so when it got down to crunch time, I didn't have the same confidence in my shots like I usually do."
-- James Blake after losing to Ivan Ljubicic.

"I think we've seen the last of (Pete Sampras) in an ATP event. I don't think he's going to come back just to say goodbye. He's not the kind who needs to have his ego stroked, and from what I've heard he really enjoys being a father and being at home. It's great to see that someone who was so focused on his tennis can be so committed to being a family man. He may decide to come back for the American hardcourt season, maybe play Long Island and then the (U.S.) Open, but at the moment it's a storybook ending."
-- James Blake.

"Last year I learned a lot from Pete Sampras here in Düsseldorf mentally. We practiced together and he taught me how to quickly put a loss behind me and to go positively into the next match."
-- James Blake after losing a tight one to Carlos Moya at the ATP World Team Championship.

"I'm very frustrated that I lost because I felt I could have won it. But I am happy I fought back and showed that I can play with one of the best clay court players in the world."
-- James Blake, happy with himself after a loss to Guillermo Coria at the TMS-Monte Carlo, showing why he doesn't have the fire to be a consistent Top 5 player.

"I mean, he's a very strong kid. He can create power from just about any situation. I wouldn't say he's much like a Spanish player because he really goes for a little more on his serve. That was going in today. He attacks a lot more. I mean, if you watch the match, you saw how much he attacked my second serve."
-- James Blake after losing to countryman Robby Ginepri Sunday in Miami.

"We have that, you know, feeling. I mean, I go out to dinner with Mardy, Taylor, Robby all the time on the road, Andy, Brian. We have a great time together, all of us. We're cheering for each other. I want to see Andy do well tonight. I want to see Robby do well. We're excited for that. I think that makes a big difference because it gives us people to cheer for. Just makes it seem a little less lonely out here when you have friends that are doing well. If you have a bad week, but they have a good week, you take something out of it. You keep your confidence high and you just have someone to cheer for and someone to hang out with on the road. It makes a big difference."
-- James Blake on the camaraderie of the American up-and-comers.

"He gets really excited for these kind of matches, I guess. You know, a
night match, the crowd was into it. So, yeah, he was wired. That definitely helped him. Looked like he got excited, definitely started playing better. Can't fault him for that. Too good."
-- James Blake after losing to Gustavo Kuerten. Hey James, maybe you should get excited too at the prospect of advancing to the semifinals, then maybe you could put a "W" on the board, I guess.

"For a veteran, he's helped me in every aspect, you know, with the tennis , off the court, media, anything. I remember a time, Memphis qualies about a year and a half ago, two years ago, I lost a close match after I practiced with him a bunch at Davis Cup when I was a practice partner. Really disappointed. Got on the phone and called him. We talked for about an hour. He told me stories about what he was doing when he was younger, some of the tough losses he had had, just how quickly things can change, how if you keep doing the right thing, it's all going to work out. Hearing that from someone who had done it, had gone through kind of what I had gone through, helped me. I thought we had so much in common, hearing it from someone similar to you makes a big difference in my career."
-- James Blake on mentor Todd Martin.